Department News Flash
Read the latest news from the Political Science department.
Read the latest news from the MPA Program.
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Edward Branscomb ('95) graduated in 2009 from Elon University School of Law as part of its first graduating class. He is now working for Egerton & Associates, P.A., in Greensboro. He recently passed the NC Bar Exam.
Jason Cannon ('98) was appointed as the new Vice President of Governmental Affairs for the Greensboro Partnership in March 2009. Jason most recently served as Staff to Representative Julia Howard and the House Committee on Finance in the North Carolina General Assembly. He has a MPA from N.C. State.
Susan Crotts ('06) is enjoying her position in the Housing and Community Development department for the City of Greensboro as the Contracts Manager and Reports Specialist. Much of her work involves creating data management systems for federally funded grant programs. She also is engaging the Institute of Government at Chapel Hill to help her department evaluate their involvement in homeless prevention service programs.
Stephen Diggs ('73) currently works for VistaScape Security Systems where he has led the technical aspects of the company's global expansion after being purchased by Seimens Building Technologies. This responsibility has provided him the exciting opportunity of traveling to China on more than one occasion. Stephen has moved to an area outside of Atlanta, GA in 1979 and resides there to this day.
Neal Dixon ('88) is the director of the Office of the Tax Collector for Mecklenburg County where he has worked for 12 years. Neal is also active in the North Carolina Tax Collection Association as an officer and works on legislative issues through the North Carolina Association of County Commissioners. He currently lives in Huntersville, NC.
Grant Duffield ('94) is currently the City Manager for Tega Cay, a community outside of Charlotte, NC. He has recently become a member of the Greek Alumni Board at UNCG and looks forward to becoming an active Alumni member.
Christine Franklin ('78) is a lecturer and honors professor as well as the Undergraduate Coordinator in Statistics at the University of Georgia.
April Hutchinson Harris (MPA '01) became Executive Director of Action Greensboro in January 2008, after working for the City of Greensboro, and before that, for Downtown Greensboro, Inc. She was married in 2007.
Denise Horn ('93) is an assistant professor of International Affairs at Northwestern University in Boston. She received a PhD in political science from Rutgers University.
Micah Huggins ('02) graduated from UNC-Chapel Hill Law School in 2006, and passed the NC Bar Exam in 2008. He is employed by Legal Aid in Greensboro.
Katie Hughes ('06) served a term with the American Red Cross through the Americorps program in Charlotte, NC. She moved to Washington, DC in 2008 for a job with the American Bar Association as the Project Assistant for the Death Penalty Representation Project.
Tiffany Ebron Hunter ('93) completed her Ph.D. in Higher Education Leadership in 2007 and is now an Assistant Professor of Birth-Kindergarten Education at Catawba College in Salisbury, NC.
David Kelly ('08) is an Administrative/Program Associate for the Land, Water & Wildlife program at North Carolina's Environmental Defense Fund.
Michael Kilgore ('05 ) completed his law degree at Liberty University Law School and has recently passed the bar.
Shaune' Langston ('99) went on to law school at Northwestern University after graduating from UNCG. She later worked for a law firm in Indiana before moving to Northern Virginia as a real estate/corporate attorney at Washington, DC's largest firm, Hogan & Hartson LLP. She resides there with her three sons and husband of 12 years.
Matt Mabe ('07) works in intelligence for the FBI in Washington, DC. He cannot tell us what he does.
Patrick Mallett ('93, MPA '97) returned from a three-month assignment in Kuwait in the fall of '09 after leaving his position as a principal planner at a Triangle-area engineering firm in Cary, NC, where he had worked for several years after completing his MPA degree. He has also served in the Navy Reserves for over 20 years as a public affairs officer.
Steven Mandurano ('04) is the Director of Transportation Security Policy at the American Association of Airport Executives. In this position, Steven focuses on the strategic communications of the Security Policy Department, ensuring that members are kept up-to-date with timely and accurate information.
Melissa Midgett ('01) is now working as N.C. State Director for U.S. Senator Kay Hagan. She formerly worked for Senator Hagan in the General Assembly, was employed in Treasurer Richard Moore's campaign for Governor, and then returned to work on the Hagan campaign in 2008.
Bruce Oakley (MPA'02) graduated from UNCG's MPA program in 2002, and now serves as the Town Manager of Oak Ridge, NC.
Justin N. Outling ('05) graduated from Duke Law School in May '08, and passed the NC bar exam in September. He then completed a one-year term working for federal district court Judge William O'Steen, Jr. in Greensboro. He and his wife, Cora, have moved to New York City where Justin now works for a large law firm.
Courtney Piercy Ritchie ('04) is a staff attorney for Union County, NC. She graduated from UNC law school in 2007.
Aislinn Sheehan ('06) is living in Washington, DC, and working as a Legal Assistant at an animal protection nonprofit called Alley Cat Allies (www.alleycat.org).
Michael Smith ('86) is a Senior Software/Systems Engineer for an IT consultant that works for the Department of Defense. Presently, he resides in Fort Washington, MD.
Abigail Greeson Steelhammer ('91) works as an Assistant Nurse Manager for the Medical-Surgical and Intensive Care Units for Presbyterian Hospital in Huntersville, in the Lake Norman area. In addition, she is taking classes at Pfeiffer University in the MHA/MBA program. She hopes to combine her political science degree with her healthcare background to pursue a career related to health policy.
Barron Thompson ('01) graduated from Elon University School of Law in 2009, passed the N.C. Bar Exam, and now works for Smith, Alexander and Morgan in Asheboro, NC. He had taught at Eastern Guilford High School for five years before entering law school. Barron lives with his wife, Emil and dog, Holly, in Walkertown, NC.
Amanda Veazey ('06) is currently pursuing her Masters in Public Administration and Nonprofit Management at Virginia Tech.
Melissa Westmoreland ('06) is a law student at Elon University School of Law.
ALUMNI CONTRIBUTIONS TO THE DEPARTMENT AND MPA ENRICHMENT FUNDS
THANKS, ALUMNI, FOR YOUR SUPPORT
We appreciate the contributions of our alumni to our department enrichment accounts, whether the MPA Enrichment Fund, or the Political Science Enrichment Fund. We depend on these funds for student travel to conferences, lunch meetings with our advisory boards, the MPA alumni reunion, and receptions for campus speakers. Recent contributions allowed us to send MPA students to the NC City/County Managers Association annual conference, host the Congress to Campus program in March 2007, and partially fund the Washington Summer Study Session.
If you are interested in contributing to the department, please designate your gift for the Political Science Enrichment Fund or MPA Enrichment Fund during UNCG’s annual campaign, or send a check directly to:
UNCG Advancement Services,
P.O. Box 26170,
Greensboro, NC 27402-6170
Please mark your gift for either the MPA Enrichment Fund or the Political Science
Enrichment Fund.
Thanks to the following alumni who contributed in 2010 to the MPA Enrichment Fund:
- John Bain (MPA '77)
- Benjamin Ballou (MPA'11)
- John Bennett (MPA '84)
- Kinsey Gimbel (MPA '00)
- John Gribble (MPA '01)
- James W. Hilliard (MPA '78)
- Jennifer Bennington Hudson (MPA '05)
- Sandra Leonard Hutchinson (MPA '00)
- Christopher Klinger (MPA '04)
- Rita Maloy (MPA '95)
- Deborah Moore (MPA '09)
- Ron Norwood (MPA '91)
- Derwick Paige (MPA '89)
- James Timothy Saunders (MPA '90)
- W. Frank Willis (MPA '81)
- Next Generation Fund for 2010
- Dyan Arkin (MPA '02)
- Barry Baker (MPA '96)
- Anne Bailie (MPA '05)
- John Bain (MPA '77)
- Tara Bohley (MPA '09)
- Brian Cockman (MPA '03)
- William Crowther
- Ruth DeHoog
- Linda Evans
- Julia Ewing (MPA '85)
- Helen Faison (MPA '08)
- C. Kevin Fortner (MPA '03)
- Susan Carr Grossman (MPA '80)
- John Gribble (MPA '01)
- Karen Vestal Hayes (MPA '97)
- Steven Hayes (MPA '04)
- Linda Hiatt-Reichard (MPA '88)
- James W. Hilliard (MPA '78)
- Wilson Hooper (MPA '06)
- Martha Hopkins (MPA '87)
- Seth Houk (MPA '06)
- William Tracy Jackson (MPA '93)
- Michael Kirkman (MPA '98)
- Tony LeTrent-Jones
- Lisa Hudson Lopez (MPA '08)
- Rita Maloy (MPA '95)
- Kelley Mills (MPA '04)
- Hugh Montgomery (MPA '85)
- Justin Nichols (MPA '10)
- Patsy O'Rork (MPA '02)
- R. Blair Rankin (MPA '83)
- Bronwen Sellars (MPA '07)
- Gary Steeley (MPA '94)
- Jenny Stokes (MPA '02)
- Gail Bartunek Vadia (MPA '09)
- Wes Ward (MPA '07)
- Michael Weisenfeld (MPA '97)
- W. Frank Willis (MPA '81)
- Layton James Woodcock, Jr. (MPA '88)
- Marshall Yandle (MPA '08)
- Jackie Zamarripa (MPA '10)
- Political Science Enrichment Fund for 2010
- Benjamin Ballou ('04)
- Denise Blunder
- Susan Bowman ('09)
- Caroline Carrington ('92)
- Charles Collicutt ('02)
- Narinder Dhillon ('08)
- Joseph Eckstrom ('09)
- Christopher Leslie ('96)
- Steven Mandurano ('04)
- Paula Meyer ('97)
- John O'Neal ('93)
- Aislinn Sheehan ('06)
- Thomas Sprinkle ('03)
- Emily Thompson
- Margie Wiggins ('10)
We also acknowledge the support of the following local foundations and enrichment funds that have helped undergraduate and graduate students continue their education.
- Annie Moring Alexander Scholarship Fund (undergraduate scholarships)
- Louise B. Alexander Endowment (for public affairs activities for students)
- Debbie Beatty Scholarship Fund (for public affairs activities for students)
